


A Rose By Any Other Name

by SailAweigh



Series: Bathhouse [2]
Category: Firefly, Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Community: trekreversebang, Multi, Other, Reverse Big Bang Challenge, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-30
Updated: 2011-05-30
Packaged: 2017-10-19 22:53:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/206094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailAweigh/pseuds/SailAweigh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leonard McCoy doesn't much like the new sheriff of Riverside; he doesn't much like having his bath interrupted, either.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Rose By Any Other Name

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [](http://www.livejournal.com/users/trekreversebang/profile)[**trekreversebang**](http://www.livejournal.com/users/trekreversebang/). I want to thank my stellar beta [](http://www.livejournal.com/users/lindmere/profile)[**lindmere**](http://www.livejournal.com/users/lindmere/) for whipping this puppy into shape. She always makes me shine brighter than Orion on a clear night with her help.

  
**Title:** A Rose By Any Other Name  
 **Artist:** [](http://www.livejournal.com/users/brynnamorgan/profile)[**brynnamorgan**](http://www.livejournal.com/users/brynnamorgan/)  
 **Author:** [](http://www.livejournal.com/users/sail_aweigh/profile)[**sail_aweigh**](http://www.livejournal.com/users/sail_aweigh/)  
 **Rating (both art/fic):** G/NC-17  
 **Genre/Pairing:** Genre: STXI/Firefly fusion/Pairing: Kirk/McCoy/Gaila  
 **Word Count:** 11,579  
 **Warnings:** kidnapping, swearing in Chinese, rimming, threesome  
 **Art Thumbnail:**   
**Fic Summary:** Leonard McCoy doesn't much like the new sheriff of Riverside; he doesn't much like having his bath interrupted, either.  
 **Link to Art:** [Art!](http://brynnamorgan.livejournal.com/67869.html)  
 **Author's note:** Written for [](http://www.livejournal.com/users/trekreversebang/profile)[**trekreversebang**](http://www.livejournal.com/users/trekreversebang/). I want to thank my stellar beta [](http://www.livejournal.com/users/lindmere/profile)[**lindmere**](http://www.livejournal.com/users/lindmere/) for whipping this puppy into shape. She always makes me shine brighter than Orion on a clear night with her help.  
 **Author's note 2:** If you hover your mouse over the italicized Chinese words, you'll be able to see a translation. For those of you reading on iPhones and the like, I've placed a glossary at the end.

"What in the Nine Hells is the meaning of this?" Leonard whipped the yellow slip out of his pocket and thrust it in the face of the man seated behind the desk.

"The meaning should be self-evident, Doctor; do you have a deficiency of the written language that impedes your understanding of it?" The new sheriff looked up at him from under straight black bangs, one sharply-slanted eyebrow arched in inquiry. "I can provide a translator if it is required."

"Wha...of course not! I'm a doctor; couldn't have got my shingle if I couldn't read Standard." Leonard threw the slip down on the desk. "No, what's this claptrap about my sign? It's nice and plain, clearly visible from the street so near everyone should be able to see it to find me. This piece of paper says I have to take it down! Some _go se_ about not meeting Town Ordinance 438, section unbelievable, paragraph stupidity."

Leonard saw the sheriff's eye twitch; the barest movement of the iris was tantamount to an eye roll in the Vulcan's facial repertoire. He smirked.

"Doctor McCoy, my deputy informed you, in person, that your sign did not comply with the ordinance over two weeks ago. I measured it myself to verify and it hangs 1.2cm into the common walkway, posing a hazard to pedestrian traffic." The sheriff's voice held neither reproof nor pleasure at Leonard's predicament, near as he could tell. Although, close scrutiny of his face may have revealed that the corner of his mouth seemed to be failing at complete restraint from quirking up, just slightly, Leonard was sure. Smug bastard.

Leonard growled. "I'll have the Riley boy rehang it tomorrow. His mother will be glad of the extra income." He reached back over the desk and grabbed the ticket off the blotter.

"That will be sufficient, Doctor McCoy; as long as it's fixed before the Founder's Day ball next week." The sheriff nodded at Leonard as he put his hat back on his head to leave.

"Have a nice day, Sheriff Spock." Leonard may as well have said 'die in a fire, you green-blooded hobgoblin' for the ice in his voice, but Jim had told him to play nice and he was trying, dammit. He had better things to do, anyway, besides worry about the anal retentive persecutions of the town's new sheriff. There was a picnic to attend, with hodgeberries and his lovers, warm sun and grass at his back. Hell, he might even convince Jim to let him bring the fishing poles for him and Gaila; Jim could do, whatever, maybe some of that fancy yoga he liked so much. Well, Leonard kinda liked it, too, for what Jim could do in the bedroom with it, but you wouldn't catch him dead trying to bend his ankle around his neck the way his companion did.

Leonard left the office with an actual bounce in his step and that was enough for him.

oOoOo

Leonard loved seeing his partners spread out in front of him like one more course in the picnic banquet they'd brought with them; Jim's golden skin and Gaila's lush green dappled by the shade of the surrounding trees looked like something from a garden painting of Monet set against the waving grasses and lush flowering bushes that bordered Sato's Crossing. He'd come to this remote outpost a year ago hoping to start anew and he'd gotten more than he bargained for; what had started out as a simple desire for a bath had blossomed into a relationship with the bathhouse proprietor and, ultimately his, what was she? Neither Gaila nor Jim would say she was his girlfriend despite the amount of sex they had together, it wasn't necessarily a romantic relationship, although the care for each other was there; no, it was a shared history and a way of collaborating that resulted in a synergy that made them something just a little bit _more_ , even to the extent it included him without making him feel like a mere adjunct to the existing relationship. When Leonard was with them, he felt like he could conquer the world; not that he would ever try, although he wasn't so sure about the other two. Hell, as long as it was his world they were ruling, he didn't even care.

"One of you better get down here 'twixt my nethers before I take this fine piece of pussy back to the bath house and find someone capable of lavishing the love and care on it that it rightly deserves."

Leonard could hear the pout in Gaila's voice without even being able to see it. He didn't bother to look up from where his hands spread both beautifully round globes of Jim's ass to expose his tender pink hole to view, secure in the knowledge that Gaila was joking and that Jim would be on that like white on rice. Leaning forward, he licked a broad stripe over the exposed hole in front of him, feeling Jim shiver at the action. He watched as the muscle tightened and released reflexively, just begging to be kissed and manipulated. Taking that as an invitation, Leonard commenced to laving it with small, darting licks around the edges and then into the center, loosening the tight muscle up until he felt Jim starting to push back on his tongue. [

Dipping his hand into the bowl of scented oil set out for their use, he used one finger to rub rings around the hole while listening to the increasingly louder sighs and moans coming from the green-skinned woman writhing under Jim's mouth and fingers.

"Oh, god, Jimmy, right there, baby. Don't you dare stop. Harder, baby, harder. Oh, oh, ohohohohohoooooooh." Gaila keened, her knees rising up around Jim's shoulders to clasp him tighter to her.

Leonard smiled at the sounds of enjoyment coming from Gaila and the deep rumble of Jim's own moans as he wordlessly encouraged Gaila to voice her enjoyment. He could see Gaila's legs writhing around Jim' waist, her hands clasping his head to hold him in place. Leaning forward, he took the opportunity to drop a few quick kisses along the sweet curve of her calf, ending with a nibble on her littlest toe and a flutter of his tongue over the rest. Her toes curled and clenched tightly with her release, her full-throated moan disintegrating into giggles at his action.

By now, he had two fingers worked inside Jim and was playing with his prostate; Jim rocked a little, his forward and back motions gaining momentum as his arousal built. He felt Jim shiver under the caress of Gaila's legs where she had lowered them to trail them along his calves, stroking in time to his rocking motion. Leonard watched in appreciation as Jim moved up along her torso to exchange a deep kiss with her, where she enthusiastically licked her own spendings out of his mouth.

"You ready for me, darlin'?" Placing one hand on Jim's shoulder, Leonard waited while the kiss trailed off into happy little kitten sounds from Gaila.

Jim was panting by the time the kiss was done. "Yeah, yeah. You're taking your sweet damn time," Jim grumbled. "Get on with it already. Gorram tease."

"I'm a doctor, kid; I don't believe in pain for pain's sake. Prefer to err on the side of caution when it comes to pleasure." Saying that, he gave one ass cheek a sharp slap before he pulled Jim upright on his knees and then down onto his cock in one smooth move. Leonard sank back on his haunches and closed his eyes as Jim slid down smoothly, luxuriating in the feel as the tight channel surrounded his cock. Fuck, he loved this. Love the feel of Jim opening around him willingly, the way they moved together smoothly to set up a corresponding rise and fall that had them both panting and moaning in seconds.

Leonard stilled momentarily at a soft touch on his cheek and opened his eyes. They fell closed again as Gaila leaned in for a kiss over Jim's shoulder. He could feel the shift of her body as she melded her front to Jim's while one of Jim's hands left off its steadying grip on Leonard's thigh to wrap around Gaila and pull her up as close to him as possible. Remaining still until their kiss ended, Leonard hooked his chin over one of Jim's shoulders so he could watch as Gaila kneeled down to take Jim's cock in her mouth.

"So beautiful. You are so beautiful. Look at her, Jim. Look at you. I could watch the two of you together all day. The only thing better is having both of you, here, with me. Wanna fuck you; wanna watch you come in her mouth." Leonard turned his head to look at Jim. Lust-blown blue eyes looked back at him. Jim's tongue came out and flicked at his lips.

"Please." It came out in a whisper, trailing off into a gasp when Leonard gave a strong thrust of his hips.

"Gaila, sugar, watch your teeth." Wrapping one arm around Jim's chest and using the other to keep their hips lined up, Leonard started thrusting hard, short strokes that jabbed directly over Jim's prostate, making him writhe and pant.

"You close, darlin'?" Leonard was having a hard time speaking himself--he just wanted to bury himself as far into Jim as he could and not come out for days. He watched as Jim nodded, short and jerky, his breath coming out nearly in sobs, thighs trembling against Leonard's in fatigue.

"I want you to come, then. I want to see Gaila swallow you down while I come in your ass. Now, Jim, now." Leonard grinned at Jim's shout of release and craned his neck so he could watch as Gaila wrung every drop out of Jim that she could. Turning to bury his face in Jim's neck, he let himself empty into the close, hot depths that Jim provided so willingly.

"Love you, baby," Jim whispered as Leonard let himself slump into a relaxed stupor against his back. He smiled at the words and the feel of Gaila's soft arms as she wiggled into a three-way embrace with the two men. He had everything he needed right here, no sharp edges, no boundaries, no regimentation. Just warm flesh and unconditional acceptance.

oOoOo

Leonard woke from where he was spooned up behind Jim on the blanket. Gaila was snuggled up under Jim's chin, their arms wound around each other's waists. He admired the view for a few more seconds before acknowledging to himself that the reason he'd awoken did need to be taken care of in the near future. Leonard carefully scooted back away from the entwined couple. Their slumber didn't break as he picked up a towel and headed off through the trees that hid the nearby stream to relieve himself. Best be washing up a little, too, so his clothes wouldn't get dirty when they dressed to return to town.

At the side of the stream, Leonard found a bush to drape his towel over. After taking care of his needs behind a large bush, he wandered back over to the water's edge where he crouched down to scoop some up and sluice it over his chest and shoulders. It was actually pretty damn warm; the stream looked fairly shallow and Leonard decided just this once that maybe it wouldn't hurt to venture into the unknown. Lord knew, he did like his baths.

Mind made up, Leonard picked his way into the center of the stream, which, he discovered, didn't even come up to his knees. Lowering himself to the graveled bed, he used his hands to scrub off his legs and stomach. When he felt he'd attended to every inch of skin as was necessary, Leonard placed his hands behind him and leaned back in the stream, letting the water flow over his shoulders and swirl around his chest. It felt good, taking a chance to be free and uninhibited, relaxing in the warm sun. He hadn't done this kind of thing nearly enough when he'd been younger and more driven to succeed. Perhaps that had been one of the problems with his marriage; he'd forgotten how to stop and smell the roses, or, as the case was now, the rose-scented bath oil that Gaila loved so much when he stopped in at the bathhouse for their communal baths. He wasn't so much a fan of going out smelling all flowery, but the way it added to Gaila's natural scent and the way it made everything feel more languorous and intimate was worth the trade off. If he spent the rest of his life smelling like a bed of roses, he'd die a happy man.

Shaking his head at his flight of fancy, Leonard pushed himself upright. Once on his feet, he splashed out of the stream. Gaila and Jim were waiting for him and if they woke up while he was gone, there was no telling what mischief they would get up to without him there to corral them with common sense. Using the towel to quickly strip the water off his arms and legs, he wrapped it around his waist and turned to head back to their picnic spot.

Lost in his thoughts of Jim and Gaila on his walk back through the trees bordering the stream, Leonard didn't immediately respond to the sound of branches snapping under booted feet off to one side. The sharp crak filtered through his thoughts and he had barely looked toward the sound before strong hands grabbed him from behind and a burlap sack was forced over his head, muffling the shout he instinctively let loose at the manhandling. Without his sight, he was quickly subdued, arms tied behind his back, while strange hands and metal implements poked and prodded him into a reluctant walk despite his attempts to dig his heels and toes into the leafy detritus under the trees. Every time he balked, he got a slap somewhere and what felt like the barrel of a gun poked into his back. It was mere seconds before he found himself back at the stream.

He tried shouting through the bag at his captors, but he was ignored as they partly-shoved, partly-dragged him through the gently rippling water. He gave up his attempts to communicate as they continued walking, leaving his companions behind all unknowing to his predicament. Another five minutes walk and he was loaded into a vehicle of some kind and he lost all sense of direction and hope for a quick discovery. Leonard worried about Jim and Gaila, wondered if they'd been taken captive, too. Most of the denizens of the bathhouse knew they were going on a picnic that day, but they wouldn't think to go looking for them for a good long while. Who was going to come find him? His thoughts spiralled down into a morass of fear and doubt while they jounced over dirt paths going nowhere as far as he knew.

oOoOo

Jim woke with a shiver, a small breeze ruffling the hairs on the back of his legs in contrast to the warm, plush feel of Gaila's breasts against his front. His arms momentarily tightened around her as he came more fully awake. He stretched out his neck, turning it side to side in an attempt to alleviate the kink that sleeping with his head on his arm had inflicted on him. A glance at the position of the sun and the length of the shadows around them as he did so said it was many hours later than he had expected them to sleep.

"Jim," a protest came from the form molded to his chest, her nose scrunching up in disdain at his movements. "Sleeping."

"Time to get up, sleepyhead. We need to get back to town; it's later than we meant to stay." Jim rolled on to his back, surprised that there wasn't another form there for him to recline against. That was just wrong. He tipped his head to other side, taking in the empty space on the blanket beside him.

"And we need to find Bones, so we can leave." He sat up and looked around, seeing all their clothes stacked off to one side next to the picnic basket. Bones wouldn't have gone far without his clothes; the man was all too modest except in the confines of his bedroom or places that he found adequate for intimate occasions. Getting him to bare himself where there was no guarantee of privacy had been like convincing a Shepherd to cut his hair, but he'd done it; mom had always said he could sell sand to a Bedouin.

Jim stood up and reached a hand down to Gaila, giving a gentle tug on the one she placed in his to help her find her feet. They quickly folded the blanket up and stuffed it into the picnic basket with the leftovers.

"We should go wash up at the stream; chances are that's where we'll find Bones." They grabbed towels and walking hand-in-hand picked a path to the stream. They chattered together happily about the plans for the town shindig that was scheduled for the coming weekend. Gaila was looking forward to seeing the outfit Nyota had contracted from one of the local seamstresses, a saucy combination of denim and lace..

The conversation came to a confused halt once they cleared the treeline and could see the stream. The river rippled its solitary way through the landscape; there was no sign of Leonard.

Jim dropped Gaila's hand to cup both of his around his mouth as he shouted, "Bones!" The shout faded into the peaceful quiet of the stream and the cooling breeze without an answer besides that of some small mammal startled into going to ground under a nearby bush.

"Doctor Leonard would not have left without us, Jim." Gaila's voice carried a thread of worry. Seeing her give a little shiver, Jim took one of the towels and draped it over her shoulders, wrapping an arm around her waist and snugging her in to his side.

"No, you've got that right. But there's no major predators around here, nothing larger than a prairie fox that might have messed with him, so he's safe wherever he is." Jim's arm tightened in a reassuring hug.

Gaila gave a quick shake of her head. "The worst one is still out there: humans."

Jim's head reared back at her comment. "You're absolutely right. _Tzao gao_! It's probably those nutters up in the hills. Gorram Kodosians." He dropped his arm from around her waist and grabbed Gaila by the hand instead, tugging her along after him as he started to scan the banks of the stream for clues, hoping not to see anything serious, like bloodstains in the dirt. He'd kill anyone who hurt his lover.

About 100 feet up the stream, they saw signs of a scuffle in the dirt, but that was all. Jim felt a huge sense of relief that Bones was at least intact, wherever he was. From where he stood, Jim could see that the dirt on the opposite side of the stream had also been disturbed by a small group of travelers. Dropping Gaila's hand he bent down and looked at the marks on his side of the water.

"More than five, I'd say closer to ten. Full dark is maybe four hours away; if we want to find Bones quickly, and get him back, we need the Sheriff and his deputy. With weapons." He slapped his hand against his bare thigh in frustration.

Looking around him at the bushes and nearby trees, Jim quickly found a broken branch to use as a marker for the location of the crossing. He drove the branch into the soft dirt by the side of the stream bed before turning back to Gaila and once more taking her hand.

"C'mon, Gaila. We gotta run." He raced her back to the blanket where their clothes were folded up and got dressed hastily, barely taking time to button up his shirt. Grabbing the picnic basket, they ran for the hovercar they'd taken out to Sato's Crossing and piled in. The trip to town wouldn't take more than half an hour, but Bones had been missing at least three hours and who knew what his kidnappers were doing to him? Jim was very rarely frightened for his own well-being, he'd been raised rough; but for Bones', well, the man had grown up in the soft life of Earth-that-was and that scared the _go se_ out of him.

oOoOo

Leonard's back ached from the pounding it was taking from the kidnappers’ rickety cart. It didn't appear to have any kind of suspension from what he could tell, the seats were bare wood and little attempt had been made to smooth out the grain; he'd have to have help getting out the splinters that had stabbed him through his towel. At least his captors had finally consented to take the sack off his head about half-way through their travels. Since then, every attempt he'd made to initiate a conversation had fallen on deaf ears. He'd taken to counting the number of times he saw the front wheel on his side of the cart turn in an effort to estimate his distance from their picnic location, while the laconic kidnappers exchanged desultory offhand comments he attributed to gossip about their community, not recognizing any of the names. Most of all, though, he'd concentrated on using his bound hands to keep his towel from falling away from his hips during the rough ride.

It was with relief that he saw a small encampment come into view. Rough buildings, more like shacks than houses, were scattered around an open square. There were a number of large tents bordering the plaza, which was filled with tables where the townsfolk had gathered to eat. His stomach grumbled in complaint at the smell of the food coming from the tents; the hodgeberries from lunch were a distant memory at this juncture.

The cart came to a stop in front of one of the shacks, which had nothing special to set it apart from the rest. Most of Leonard's captors descended from the cart, one of them giving him a shove on the shoulder.

"Get out. This is where you'll be staying, doctor." The man gestured impatiently for Leonard to disembark. Leonard held his hands up, the rope still binding them together.

"Might find it a tad easier to be shut of me if you removed this now. I'm not going to try climbing out of this rattletrap with my hands bound. Sure to break a leg if I try." Leonard shook his hands in the other man's face. With a scowl directed at him for his testy words, the kidnapper loosened the knots around his wrists, throwing the length of rope in the bed of the wagon.

"There, get on with you." Securing his towel around his waist once more, Leonard descended from the cart carefully. If they knew he was a doctor and that's why he'd been taken, he wouldn't be any good to them if he was incapacitated. Once he had both feet on the ground, another kidnapper grabbed him by the elbow and marched him over to the door of the shack. After knocking sharply on the wooden panel, it opened and a young woman with flowing robes and a scarf wound around her head bid them enter.

"Blessed be, you must be the doctor. You must come with me immediately. Levi, you may leave the doctor here with me." The last kidnapper gave Leonard a narrow-eyed glare, but left the room as he had been bidden. The woman turned her flustered gaze away and tried to lead Leonard to a bed along the far side of the wall, but he stopped her by refusing to follow.

"Ma'am. I am a doctor, but what I also am is _unclothed_. Unless you want to set me up as the town Companion, instead, it would be a might easier to do my job if I were dressed properly." Leonard clutched the towel closer, scowling at the woman and his surroundings.

The woman's hands flew to her cheeks. "Oh, my. Yes, yes, I think that would be for the best. Oh, dear. I think there might be some left-behinds that will fit you."

She moved to a dresser along another wall and pulled out a shirt and a pair of overalls; handing them to Leonard, she pointed out a screen behind which he could change. Leonard almost balked at donnng the threadbare clothes when he didn't know what kind of an illness he was dealing with, whether it was contagious or not, but decided that if it was, chances were he'd already been exposed and he was well tired of his flesh being overexposed to these people. They were not who he would have chosen to see him _en dishabille_.

Dressing quickly, he stepped back out from behind the screen to confront his presumed patient, who was waiting for him on the bed. He took one look at him, at the disfigured skin on his face and hands, and realized that it was not contagious, except in the way that ignorance or willful disregard might affect a person or a community. Leonard turned back to the woman.

"Excuse me. I don't think we have been properly introduced on account of I've been kidnapped. I'm Doctor McCoy. And you are?" Leonard held his hand out in the way he was taught as being polite. The woman ignored it, not so much in disdain as in distrust. She flapped a hand at him in a weak effort to acknowledge him. Leonard shrugged and dropped his hand back down to his side. No skin off his nose if they didn't recognize universal symbols of peace and welcome.

"I'm Missy Clarkson, Doctor McCoy." She pointed to his patient. "That's Joshua Naismith, our farrier. Can you help him?"

"Helping him will be very easy, Ms. Clarkson. I have a few questions, though. Could we sit first?" He looked around for a chair to sit on and it was only then that he spotted a child sitting in the corner, holding a doll and rocking herself from side to side.

"Oh, is she a patient, too?" Leonard looked from the child to Missy, his eyebrows taking on a questioning arch.

"No, that's just Chloe. Her family was killed last year. She lives with me and my husband now." Missy led the way over to a table and four chairs. Leonard pulled out a chair for Missy, waiting until she sat down to pull out another one for himself. He watched as Missy settled herself on the edge of the chair, back straight, hands clasped in her lap.

"Doesn't she like to go out and play with the other children?" Leonard looked over his shoulder to the corner where Chloe was rocking the doll in her arms. He was a little surprised that she did so silently: no words, no humming or singing. Most children he knew mimicked what they saw adults around them do; it was a way of practicing for their duties when they grew up. Joanna had known all the lullabies Jocelyn--. He cut the thought off viciously, before it brought the pain rising up in his chest that he'd worked so hard to keep contained; he couldn't afford to let himself get distracted. Not if he wanted to do whatever his kidnappers wanted him to do, so he could get the hell out of there. That was, if they intended to let him go. He sure hoped that Jim and Gaila realized he was missing by now and had gone to get help from town; Jim and Gaila were the type to leap before looking and it often ended up with them in hot water and not the pleasant kind found in the emporium.

Missy leaned forward, her voice taking on a confiding tone. "Oh, no. The other children don't like to play with Chloe. She's mute, you see. Won't join in the hymns or talk to the other children. It frightens them." Missy looked at the little girl with pity. "She's better off here and she stays out of the way."

Leonard nodded his head at her assessment. "I see. It sounds like you all have done the best that you can for her. Well, as for Mr. Naismith, you'll be happy to hear that the cure for his problem is quite simple. But, I need to know a few things about the dietary habits of the community are as a whole; it may prevent the same thing from happening to others."

"We all eat from the communal table, Doctor. If it's something that would affect us all, why is Mr. Naismith the only one that's ill?" She gestured at the man lying on the bed.

Leonard skimmed his fingers over the cracks in the table surface, a restless need to focus on something other than those lingering thoughts of Joanna that Chloe has fostered. "He won't be for much longer, if you confirm what I suspect. Is the majority of your diet from corn?"

Missy eyes widened a little as she looked at him in surprise. "Yes, how did you know?"

Leonard smiled faintly. "I grew up in an area that historically had the same problem; it was part of my studies for my degree in public health. Mr. Naismith, and I'm guessing most of this community, is suffering from a vitamin deficiency called pellagra. It's relatively simple to fix."

The door opened suddenly, an agitated Levi entering the infirmary and slamming the door behind him. Missy looked at him in confusion, but Leonard found his eyes drawn to Chloe when he heard a thump come from the corner where she had been sitting. The child had dropped to the floor and scuttled behind the chair, her doll clutched tightly in front of her; still, not a single sound emerged from her pinched lips.

Levi's eyes darted around the room, his hands clenching and unclenching by his side. "We need to get rid of the doctoring fellow; there's a man here claims as to be the Sheriff of Riverside and he going to be wanting him back!"

oOoOo

  
The door to Spock's office banged open under the palm of one of the Riley boys; they were all lanky, with a uniformity of brown hair, blue eyes and freckles. Spock ran down the list of names in his memory and came up with Liam.

"Was that necessary, Mr. Riley? There is a high probability that the doorknob has now damaged the wall behind the door. A volunteer will be needed to repair it; may I assume that your name may be put down on the volunteer roster for weekly maintenance?" Spock put down his pen, pushing the paper with its orbital derivations off to one side and clasping his hands in front of him on the desk blotter.

Liam quailed a little under the sheriff's level stare. "Of course, Sheriff. Sorry 'bout that. But, you gotta go get Dr. McCoy right away! Those nutters from Kodoston done snatched him away over by way of Sato Crossing."

Spock lifted one eyebrow. "How did you deduce that he was being kidnapped? Did he shout and fight back?"

Twin spots of pink bloomed on Liam's cheeks. "Uh, well, the Doc couldn't rightly fight back; didn't look like he was wearing any clothes and they had a sack over his head and his hands tied behind his back. Sure didn't look to me like nothing a volunteer would be wearing. Maybe if he was working in Kirk's Emporium, yeah." The flush got a little deeper at his boldness.

"The doctor has his own employ; I understand he is highly thought of for his skills. It is doubtful that he was attempting to set himself up as competition for Mr. Kirk and his establishment. Did you see Mr. Kirk out there, too? Generally, I have observed that where you find one, you find the other." Spock waited patiently for the young man to generate a response.

Liam scratched his head at the Sheriff's question. "I didn't see Mr. Kirk out there; could be he was farther downriver from where the doctor was taken. I didn't think to look. Didn't see Miss Gaila, neither. Lots of people like to use the shallows below Sato Crossing as a bathing hole. Everyone knows how the Doc likes his baths."

Spock nodded his understanding. Indeed, the whole town knew how single-minded the doctor was in his quest for cleanliness; the number of tirades against dirt and disease the town citizens had been subjected to was staggering. Just as everyone knew that from the day Leonard McCoy met Jim Kirk at the bathhouse, they had been nigh on inseparable. One could also usually find the Orion female in attendance, but she seemed to function more in the nature of a satellite orbiting a binary star, maintaining her independence while still being part of the system. Finding the doctor in company of other people, and people that it didn't sound like he chose to go with willingly, that was a cause for alarm. He could speculate on why they had taken the doctor, but he wouldn't know for sure until he got there to assess the situation himself.

Gathering the equations he'd been working on earlier, Spock bundled them away in a drawer and stood up. "I will notify Deputy Uhura to come take over the office and await Mr. Kirk while I retrieve the doctor. You are to be commended for your prompt action in bringing this to my attention. Please don't forget, however, to put your name on the clipboard for volunteers before you leave."

With that final admonition, Spock took his hat down off the hat rack and settled it squarely on his head. After standing by calmly as Liam signed his name on the list as directed, he ushered the young man out and locked the door behind them.

Liam hesitated on the stairs as Spock descended them to where his mule was parked. "Sheriff, ain't you going to take no guns or anything? Those hillfolk are a might insistent on keeping things they take."

"I have found that most people respond quite well to courtesy and reason, Mr. Riley; it is the logical thing to do. Once they realize that we are aware of Doctor McCoy's disappearance and that other people will come after us if we do not return in a timely manner, they will have no choice but to release Doctor McCoy."

Liam looked at him skeptically, then shrugged. "No skin off my nose if you want to play chicken with them, sheriff. I think I'll just head over to Ms. Kirk's and fill her in on the kidnapping."

Spock stiffened. "If you feel it necessary, Mr. Riley, then by all means you may do that. Now, if you will excuse me, I must go notify Deputy Uhura of the situation." He turned away abruptly and walked around the mule, sitting in the driver's seat and starting it up.

Nyota would undoubtedly be outside Kirk's Emporium and Aquadrome writing tickets for the motorized vehicles that were either unregistered or did not have safety inspection stickers on them. It would take time, but eventually he would bring order and administration to this little town. Things ran smoother if there were things such as licenses, certificates, ordinances and rules. A place for everything and everything in its place; it kept chaos at bay and made life easier, especially in these semi-lawless times after the fall of the Federation. He felt he would have enjoyed the structure provided by this burgeoning new Alliance, except its "humans first" outlook on colonization and consolidation was as bad as the narrow-minded bigotry he'd found on Vulcan toward his mixed ancestry. Without Vulcan's influence and direction from within the Federation, the idea of IDIC was quickly falling by the wayside. Tarsus was the first place he'd really found himself fully accepted since his time at Starfleet Academy. Spock shook the thought off and directed the mule down the main street to the most popular building on the street, Kirk's Emporium and Aquadrome.

In the meantime, there was the matter of the alleged kidnapping to attend to. It was a matter of--Spock wouldn't designate it curiosity, but scientific interest--to see if the doctor would find it a relief and be thankful for his rescue or if he would find some reason that Spock should have left him there to bring enlightenment to his abductors in his own irascible manner. Spock determined there was a 7.5% chance he would find the doctor making his own way back to Riverside after being ejected from Kodoston. He attempted, but failed, to suppress a small twitch from curling the corner of his mouth as he pulled the mule up in front of Kirk's Emporium and flagged Nyota down with a wave of his hand. The doctor always made their encounters _interesting_.

oOoOo

Nyota Uhura had thought earlier that if she had to write up one more ticket in front of Kirk's Emporium, she’d expire in the street from boredom. Instead, she was sending memos to those who had signed up for the weekly "Keep Riverside Clean" brigade, possibly one step up from writing tickets. The clean up brigade was, not that surprisingly, one of the few things the sheriff and Doctor McCoy agreed upon, albeit for their own disparate reasons: Spock's determination that everything be neatly organized to maximize efficiency and Doctor McCoy's obsessive need for hygiene.

It was, perhaps, also why Spock felt he had to retrieve Doctor McCoy personally; a gesture that despite their different ways of looking at things, McCoy was still a valued member of the community. She smiled at the thought of how valuable he must be to Jim Kirk. In the six months since she'd been on Tarsus all she'd ever heard about was how he'd "given up his profession for love." She'd laughed when Kirk had lost the race for the position as sheriff to Spock; he'd been so sure the entire town was wowed by his "awesomeosity," as he called it. His cocky attitude hadn't changed any, though; he still seemed to be all bluster and swagger around her and Spock, clapping them on the shoulder like they were his best buds.

Nyota was startled out of her musings by the door banging back against the wall. "Kirk, I'm adding your name to the weekly list for that. You and Liam Riley, were you all raised in a barn?" She jotted down his name, right under Liam's.

"No, we were raised in a concentration camp. What about you, were you raised in a kennel?" Kirk fired back with a double-barrelled attack from those blue eyes that seared through her like lasers and shriveled her soul into a lump of coal. She was heartened by the slap that Gaila aimed at Kirk's shoulder.

"Jim, no call for that." Gaila looked at Nyota with sympathy in her eyes.

Nyota regrouped and schooled her face to a neutral expression. "I’m sorry, Mr. Kirk, but I don't believe what I just said called for the level of insult you just leveled at me."

Kirk turned away from her momentarily, she could see his hand pass over his face as he shook off his irritation. He turned back toward her with a contrite look. "No, you're right. The apology should be all mine."

Nyota nodded. "Accepted."

"In the meantime, I want to know what is being done to find Doctor McCoy, Deputy Uhura." Kirk surged forward, leaning his hands on the desk and looming over her, trying to be as intimidating as he could.

Despite their current accord, she stiffened her spine and looked him straight in the eye, her hands clasped in front of her on the desk, once more becoming the consummate professional. "The Sheriff is on his way to Kodoston to bring him back. Your boyfriend will be just fine."

"Who did he take with him? I hope it was some of the Riley clan, they're good in a firefight." Jim fired the questions at her rapidly, looking at the gun case on the wall behind her to assess what was left of their arsenal. His jaw dropped when he saw it was completely full.

Kirk looked at her and shook his head. "He went alone? Did he even take any kind of a weapon with him? A personal weapon, maybe? _Chur ni-duh_. If you folks can't do it right, I will."

Nyota watched as he turned around and headed back for the door, Gaila trailing behind him like a leaf caught up in his wake. "Where are you going, Kirk? You have no authority out there!"

He stopped at the door and turned back to her. "I'll have all the authority I need when I get there. It's called superior firepower."

Nyota sputtered for a second and then jumped up from her chair. "Wait, Kirk! You can't do that. I'll--I'll arrest you if you try to go out there and start something."

"Uhura, it's already been started. It was started over 15 years ago by those very people. Who do you think put us in the concentration camp? Did you pay attention to any of the orientation briefing my mother gave you and Spock? Do you have any idea what they might do if they think--" Kirk's words choked off and Nyota realized that was fear she saw in his eyes. "They don't tolerate different lifestyles very well, they may need a doctor for some reason, but they could turn on him if enough people make it an issue."

Nyota came around the desk and stood close to him, looking up in his eyes. "I did pay attention. I also know that normally, they keep to themselves and they don't cause trouble down here in Riverside. Spock is sure they will listen to reason once he gets there, it's only logical that if they need a doctor that bad, they aren't going to waste a valuable commodity. They'll let him go once Spock outlines the benefits to them."

Jim shook his head at her words. "Uhura, you aren't listening to me. I've lived with those people, I know how they think. Trust me, when they take something, they don't give it back. They particularly don't give it back just by someone asking. And they won't tolerate anything they consider flawed or unclean."

A sound of discomfort from Gaila drew Nyota's attention away from Kirk to her friend. Gaila's cheeks were a sickly yellow. "Ny, they threw stones at me the first time they saw me. Would you just trust Jim that he knows what he's talking about. _Please._ "

Nyota was galvanized by the sound of tears in Gaila's voice. She took her keys out and unlocked the gun case, removing two shotguns and a number of hand guns. "Fine, I'll go with, but I'm going under protest. If anyone asks, I deputized you. Maybe I can keep this from being a blood bath. This isn't an opportunity for you to exact revenge on these people, Kirk. We'll stop by the Rileys’ place on the way out of town and get Kevin, too. Will that satisfy you?"

He nodded and Nyota handed him one of the shotguns and a pistol before turning to his companion. "Gaila, honey, do you want a phaser or a projectile shooter?"

Gaila perked up at that and crossed her arms over her chest. When she lowered her hands, they were holding knives with long, slender blades. She battered her eyelashes at Nyota, twirled the knives a couple of times, and then with a flutter of her blouse and a wink they were gone again. "I believe in always being prepared. I don't much like guns, but I will take a phaser, too."

Jim nodded his head. "Good. Now, it's as close to a fair fight as we'll probably get. It would still be good to have the element of surprise on them. We can think about it on the way to the Rileys’."

Finally in accord, the trio left the office locked up behind them and headed for the Riley homestead. Nyota wondered if Kirk had something else up his sleeve that would make this anything other than a stand-off with guns.

oOoOo

Spock assessed the Kodoston community as the mule drew nearer to the outskirts of town. He had never been to Kodoston before. He'd barely been on Tarsus six months and much of his time to date had been spent campaigning for sheriff and then consolidating his position in Riverside once he'd been inducted into office. Looking around at the jerry-built shacks, he surmised that it wasn't a very prosperous place. It was, however, very neat and tidy; he approved of the effort it undoubtedly took to achieve that. Indeed, there must be some kind of bureaucracy in place, besides their appointed elder--the Patron--to keep it looking this clean. Now all he had to do was ascertain the location of the Patron's residence and do what he could to secure the release of Doctor McCoy. He was sure the leader of the community would respond to reason.

As he drew closer to the heart of the community and he encountered more people in the road, he noticed that everyone stopped in their tracks to follow his movements. More than a few of them made a peculiar hand gesture which he could see consisted of the middle two fingers held down on the palm by the thumb while the remaining two, the index and the little finger, were pointed in his direction. It was one he'd never seen used elsewhere on Tarsus or back on Earth-that-was. He would ask Nyota if she'd seen it during her studies at Starfleet when he returned to Riverside.

Soon enough he came to a town square, where tents were set up as food stalls. He could see a number of women cleaning up the remains of a meal. Unable to determine who, if anyone, was in charge he ultimately brought the mule to a halt and stepped out, entering the largest tent.

Spock walked toward a group of women clustered around a table. He once again noticed hands flickering out at him with fingers pointed. It could have been a greeting of some kind, but he had yet to see any of them use it with each other so he abstained from returning it.

He touched the brim of his hat in greeting as was done in Riverside as he approached. "Ladies, good day. I am Sheriff Spock of Riverside. I am looking for your Patron. Could you direct me to his office or residence, please?"

Several of the women glanced back and forth between themselves, none of them appearing to be able to gather up the nerve to speak with him. Spock clasped his hands behind his back and waited patiently. It did not escape his notice that one of the women lingered at the entrance to the tent and then bustled off in the direction of one of the larger buildings lining the square. He made note of it. Perhaps that was the Patron's house and he would know later if they were trying to lead him into a trap or send him on what Nyota referred to as a "wild goose chase”--something both Jim Kirk and Doctor McCoy were extremely facile at accomplishing, much to his chagrin.

"The Patron lives in the White House," one of the women eventually offered when Spock merely continued to wait placidly for a reply.

Spock was momentarily stumped at that. "Excuse me, could you be more specific? All the houses are white."

She looked at him blankly. "Everyone knows the White House."

Spock was tempted to roll his eyes at her the way he had seen Doctor McCoy do when he felt Spock was being obfuscatory. Instead he took a calming breath. "I, however, am unfamiliar with it, as I am from Riverside. Could you perhaps point it out to me?"

The woman, who seemed to be the unspoken leader of the group by this time, lead him outside and pointed to a house on one corner of the square. "That one, there. There's even a sign. We put it up about five years back, once the house was completed. A good leader should have a monument to his authority and dominion for everyone to see and acknowledge." She stood up straighter as she said those words.

The house was definitely the whitest on the block. Spock could see a block of stone sitting in front of it, undoubtedly engraved with the words that he now realized were spoken in capital letters: The White House. He was familiar enough with the history of the North American continent of Earth-that-was to know what it referred to; he wondered if the people here did, and whether the rule of the Patron was anywhere near as benevolent in intent as the former had been. It was something he would soon have to ascertain for himself.

After tipping his hat at the woman and offering a quiet thanks, Spock headed over to the White House to start his negotiations with the Patron.

oOoOo

Missy looked at Levi, her eyes big. "The Sheriff of Riverside is here? Oh, dear, we were just getting somewhere. I can't give up the doctor now!" She wrung her hands in her apron.

Leonard looked at Levi and narrowed his eyes in determination. "I'm not going anywhere, particularly not to be gotten rid of. You brought me here for a reason, I'll stay 'till I'm done."

The kidnapper stood there irresolute, looking first at Leonard, then Missy, and then to the patient lying on the bed. His hand fiddled restlessly with the strap on his holstered gun. Leonard eyed him carefully as he walked over the the bed Joseph Naismith was lying on.

"Mr. Naismith, I'm Doctor McCoy. I'd like to talk to you about your diet." He sat in the chair next to the bed and started outlining the changes Mr. Naismith would have to make in his eating habits. He turned to Missy partway through his explanation and asked for paper and pen to write his instructions down.

"Now, this isn't just for Mr. Naismith. Since the entire community pretty much eats the exact same diet, you're all going to run into the same problem if you don't follow these instructions." Leonard started making his list, Missy reading over one shoulder. He could hear Levi shifting impatiently from one foot to the other behind him.

Missy started objecting to what she could read of the list as he wrote. "Oh, but, Doctor, there's no way we can do all those things."

"Why not?" Leonard all but growled at her. "You must have gardens here; you grow corn, you can grow green leafy things, too."

She shook her head violently. "No, we can't. The corn is the only thing we can grow. It is blessed by Kodos, our first Patron, and we are expressly forbidden from trying to grow any other crops."

"What kind of damned tomfoolery is that?" Leonard stared at her in outright amazement. "Well, if you can't grow anything else, the least you can do is trade for the things you will need."

Missy pursed her mouth in a moue of disagreement. "We will have no truck with the infidels that infest the rest of this colony."

"You damn well already have, you hypocrite or I wouldn't be here, now would I?" Missy's eyes widened in shock at his forceful words, but he really didn't care if he offended by this point. Leonard was more than ready for Spock to come rescue him by now. And where the hell was he, anyway?

When the door opened and a tall, white-haired man strode in followed by Spock, Leonard actually sent up a thanks for the arrival of the devil he knew; he was so sick and tired of these pusillanimous, wrong-headed _idiots_. This town must be what Jim referred to when he spoke of the Special Hell.

The white-haired man came over to him and held out a hand to shake. "Doctor McCoy, I'm the Patron of Kodoston. Thank you for coming. As soon as you've cured Joseph, I will be happy to allow Sheriff Spock to escort you home."

Leonard looked at the hand and then down at the list he was holding. Instead of shaking the hand, he thrust the list he'd made into the Patron's extended hand and let go. "I don't give a good Goddamn if he's cured or not. I've told Ms. Clarkson here what needed to be done and she claimed the entire community would downright refuse to do it. It is not my responsibility if your people are too indoctrinated with idiocy to properly care for their own health."

The Patron dropped the list and grabbed Leonard's wrist. "You will cure him."

"I can't, if your own dietary restrictions won't allow me to. Your precious Kodos brought this all down on your heads with his misguided belief in the sanctity of a single crop; one that was known on Earth-that-was to cause this very problem. In fact, you've been living off this crop for a number of years without exhibiting this condition before. You must have known about how to alleviate it; what's changed?" Leonard gazed into the Patron's eyes piercingly, looking for regret or some kind of awareness of having made a mistake.

The Patron tipped his head back and glared at Leonard over the bridge of his nose. "We refuse to traffic any longer with outsiders. The previous Patron was willing to make allowances and trade with other communities to get the pickling lime we needed to treat the corn. We will no longer deal with infidels."

"No, but you'll kidnap them!" Leonard could not believe the stupidity and gall of the people he was meeting here. "And there are other things that you can use for the nixtamalization process besides calcium hydroxide, I'd be happy to make a list of them."

The heated words being exchanged by Leonard and the Patron were interrupted by Spock.

"Doctor, Patron, we should take this argument outside. Chloe is distressed by the loud voices." Spock nodded down towards his hand, where the obviously frightened child had latched onto it like a lifeline. "She says it reminds her of the last night in her house before her mother and sister were--"

Spock's voice trailed off for a second before he resumed his speaking This was something he'd never seen happen and Leonard came to attention as Spock turned to the Patron, directing the full brunt of this flat black gaze on him. "What she tells me is barbaric. Did her mother really attempt to murder the whole family because they were part Betazoid?"

The Patron glanced down and to the side. "The book says, 'And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee'. Her mother chose the way of righteousness, destroying herself and her other daughter for their sin. Who are we to judge?"

Missy Clarkson chose this moment to reenter the conversation, her voice holding a note of wonder in it. "The child is mute. How did you get her to talk to you? I did not even hear you two speaking."

Spock looked down at Chloe and she inched closer to him. "I did not have to speak to her. I am a Vulcan; she is a Betazoid, albeit not fully matured in her skills."

Missy looked at Spock blankly for a second. When she spoke again her voice trembled in fear. "And they shall be among the people. And they shall speak truths and whisper secrets. And you shall know them by their crafts. Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live!" She pointed at his ears and made a gesture at him that Leonard recognized from some of the more devout people he'd come across during his early training back home in the rural clinics around Atlanta.

 _"Fei hua_ , no such thing." Leonard clicked his tongue in disgust. "Vulcans are touch telepaths; Betazoids are empaths. It’s just part of their normal physiology."

The Patron surprised Leonard by pulling a gun out from under his coat and pointing it at Spock. As soon as he did that Levi had his own gun drawn and pointed at Leonard. "Missy, Caleb and Samuel are just outside. Go bid them enter. I've heard tell these Vulcans have the strength of ten devils. We will need them to keep him subdued."

Missy bowed her head and slipped out the front door, returning mere seconds later with two hulking men also carrying guns. Leonard knew that even Spock couldn't overcome that much armed opposition, especially with a child clinging tightly to one hand. Leonard could only follow them in impotent frustration as they bound Spock's hands after separating him from Chloe. The men hustled him out of the infirmary toward the town square, Chloe standing forlorn in the doorway holding her doll clutched tight to her face to absorb her tears.

oOoOo

Spock watched impassively as the crowd gathering wood placed it under the platform he was standing on. From the size of the mob, it appeared the entire village had turned out in answer to the sound of the bell Missy Clarkson had rung when they brought him there and bound him to an upright pole in the center of the platform. He was, it appeared, going to be burned at the stake for being a witch; he started running probabilities in his head that Jim Kirk would convince his deputy to mount their own rescue attempt and placed it at 97.6 percent. With that assurance tidied away, he turned his attention to what else was going on in the square around him.

Off to one side, he could hear Doctor McCoy haranguing the Kodoston Patron on his behalf. He didn't think it would do much good, as the town elder kept turning his face away and finding more people to help with the wood gathering. Spock probably could have secured his own escape with his superior strength and speed, but he couldn't leave the doctor behind on the chance that the crowd would take it out on him before he could come back with larger numbers to support his cause.

The Patron finally called out to the mob to stop and gather around the platform. A number of the people were carrying torches against the gathering darkness of evening and Spock was very much certain that they would also be used to light the kindling under the platform.

When everyone was quiet, the Patron addressed the mob. "This creature is a witch! He reads minds and speaks untruths."

Spock watched as Doctor McCoy jumped up on the platform in front of him. "That is a bald-faced lie of its own! Vulcans can’t lie, because there’s no point when other Vulcans can read their minds. Telepathy is just a natural part of who they are, like you have blond hair or blue eyes. If you burn him, you may as well burn everyone here for being a victim of genetics."

"It matters not what this infidel says. The book states that we shall not suffer a witch to live and he is a witch! Did not our Supreme Patron, Kodos, tell us to always trust in the book if he was not around?" The Patron jabbed a finger at Spock and was about to go on with his tirade when Spock interrupted him.

"Does not your book also carry a prohibition on killing and murder? I believe you were the last one to be seen with the previous Patron before he died. He was, in fact, recovering from his illness before you visited him." Spock was cut off by one of the villagers that worked for the Patron leaping up on the platform and smashing a fist across his face before Doctor McCoy could stop him. Spock watched as the doctor attempted to wrestle the man away and was knocked down on the ground for his efforts. He made a note to thank the doctor later, not even considering the 2.4 percent chance they wouldn't be rescued. The doctor was extremely quixotic and it appeared that trait extended even to protecting Spock himself; he would not have thought that prior to tonight.

"Lies, all lies!" screamed the Patron. He grabbed a torch from someone on the edge of the crowd and strode towards the platform.

"Light it, now." As he went to toss the torch on the piled wood, the entire platform was bathed in light from a ship hovering directly over the square. Spock looked up to see what he identified as a Class F shuttlecraft twenty feet above him, Kevin Riley hanging from the door by a harness, an extremely large automatic rifle held in his hands and pointing directly at the Patron.

His head whipped to the left when he heard another voice calling out from behind the crowd. Uhura and Gaila walked toward them, shoulder to shoulder, pushing the crowd aside as they went.

"Looks like we got here just in the nick of time, Sheriff." Uhura nodded at him over the barrel of the shotgun she had pointed at the Patron. She turned her head to Gaila with a victorious grin. "What does that make us?"

"Big damn heroes, Ny." Gaila smiled and waved at the crowd like a prom queen riding in a motorcade, her eyes scanning constantly over the restless mob.

Spock watched as Gaila magicked a knife out of the flounce of her blouse and hurled it at one of the villagers who had been slowly creeping closer to the platform with a torch he intended to lower onto the kindling. The knife knocked the torch out of his hand and into the dirt where it started to gutter out. The villager faded back into the crowd quickly, shaking his hand as he went.

Jumping up on the platform, Gaila cut Spock free with the knife she'd retrieved on the way. It was tucked away so cunningly that Spock had trouble following. He wondered where this woman had learned such skillful sleight of hand; his eyebrows shooting up as the next thing that appeared in her hand was a communicator.

"Four to beam up, Cap'n." Gaila was staring up at the shuttlecraft, but looked back down when Doctor McCoy placed a hand on her arm to get her attention. "Belay that."

"Make that five, sugar. I'll be right back." Spock watched as the doctor jumped off the platform and ran over to Missy Clarkson. The two argued briefly, before they both headed back over to the infirmary. The nurse disappeared into the building and returned with a reluctant Chloe held by the arm. Doctor McCoy addressed the child briefly, pointing at Spock and himself, apparently offering her the chance to come with them. He held one hand out to Chloe and she took it, not looking back once as he led her to the platform. Spock would never admit that anything Doctor McCoy did would ever surprise him, but he would admit that his prediction of the man's actions that evening had been extremely inaccurate.

Gaila spoke a few words into the communicator once everyone was on the platform and Spock felt the humming disorientation of a transporter take hold of him. The last thing he saw as they dematerialized were hands with flickering fingers pointing at him.

oOoOo

Leonard was a little surprised to find himself walking down the boardwalk dressed up in his finest for a party at the side of the Sheriff, rather than at Jim's side as he'd grown used to. Since they had returned from Kodoston, he'd found himself more at ease in the Vulcan's presence, less threatened by the precision and detail that Spock surrounded himself with and imposed upon the community. While the rules could chafe at times, they were never for stupid or ignorant reasons and Leonard appreciated that so much more now.

"Doctor, I am sure you are more cognizant of human culture and the variety of gestures they use for non-verbal communication than I am. Could you tell me what this sign means?" Spock held his hand out toward him with the two middle fingers tucked down into his palm by the thumb with the index and pinky finger sticking up straight.

Leonard glanced at him in surprise. "I would have thought Deputy Uhura would be able to fill you in on that."

"Indeed, I asked her, but she said it wasn't one she grew up with and her investigations only indicated that it had been used by certain musicians during the 20th century that referred to their music as 'Dense Elements.' I find myself unable to construct a connection between music and the gesture as it pertains to me." Leonard gave Spock a perplexed look, but he was interrupted before he could say anything by the throaty chuckle Jim let out at overhearing Spock's words.

Jim turned back to look at Spock from where he was walking in front of them with a distinctly gussied-up Nyota Uhura at his side. Something else Leonard was a little surprised at, too, the way the animosity between Jim and Uhura had subsided, but that day in Kodoston had changed a lot of things. "It's not 'Dense Elements'; the musical style was known as 'Heavy Metal.' Bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, Kiss and Metallica made it popular. It was used as a sign they were enjoying the music by 'rocking out'." Jim held up in hand in the sign and then waggled his hand back and forth.

Leonard shook his head at the way Jim was bopping his head and acting like he was listening to music. "I suppose you just happen to have some recordings stashed away in that archive of yours, infant. Where I grew up, superstitious people used that sign as a way to ward off the Evil Eye or to protect against the influence of the devil or witches. It's pretty rude to use the sign toward a person; I'm sorry you had to be exposed to that."

Spock tipped his head in acknowledgement. "You have no need to apologize, Doctor. Your actions were completely exemplary while we were hostage to them and I am--" Spock paused long enough that Leonard finally sought to fill the silence with something appropriate.

"Grateful, Spock, or maybe appreciative, thankful even?" Leonard found himself grinning gleefully at the thought that Spock would have to admit to having an emotion.

Spock's back stiffened even further than normal, if it was possible. Leonard thought that one of these days he was going to end up in the foundation of a building, mistaken for an iron girder in the construction yard.

"I was going to say, Doctor, that I am going to have to recalculate the percent chance of you ever doing as you were told by a factor of point six to accommodate your behavior in Kodoston. Your behavior was most illogical; you could do nothing for me that I could not do for myself, yet you persisted in trying to help." Leonard caught a glimpse of Jim and Nyota leaning their heads together to whisper to each other, soft giggles coming from them between comments and he scowled at them. Jim gave him a mischievous look and took one of Uhura's hands, tucking it in the corner of his elbow as they continued to stroll along the boardwalk.

"Yeah, well, call me the patron saint of lost causes, because I don't think I'll ever understand you, Spock." Leonard turned toward Spock and slapped one hand on his shoulder in a way he knew irritated him, although it was hard to tell from his face; it was only the slight twitch to his shoulders that gave away his discomfort. "Now, c'mon, Miss Gaila is waiting for us at the--ow!"

One hand flew up to Leonard's head just above his ear where the corner of a sign had whacked him a good one. "Dammit, what's that doing there?"

"Doctor, I believe that is your own sign, the one you said you intended to rehang last week. Deputy Uhura, remind me to write Doctor McCoy another ticket tomorrow for being in violation of, what did you call it, Doctor? Oh yes, 'Town Ordinance 438, section unbelievable, paragraph stupidity'." There was just the slightest curl to the corner of one side of Spock's mouth. Leonard would have called him out on it, but he was too busy rubbing out the knot the sign had left behind.

Leonard waved one hand at the offending sign. "Yeah, yeah, rules are rules. I always said it would be a cold day in Hell before I agreed with something you said, but I think we've both seen what that's like and, well, Riverside and the people here sure aren't it."

~~~~fin~~~~

  
Glossary:

go se - dog shit  
tzao gao -crap  
chur ni-duh - screw you  
fei hua - nonsense


End file.
